"When the Giants Come to Town..." is my blog intended to chronicle my thoughts on San Francisco Giants baseball. My special interest is in prospects and the farm system, but of course, will comment on all aspects of the San Francisco Giants. I will also comment on baseball in general, particularly from a fantasy baseball perspective. I hope you will find the site informative, and invite you to join in the discussion.

As you all know, I have expressed concern over Chris Stratton's placement and performance this year. The feedback in the Comments tells me that most readers are less concerned about it than I. With that in mind, I sought an outside opinion yesterday by posing the following question to Marc Hulett in his Fangraphs Prospect Chat: How much trouble is Chris Stratton in as a prospect? He started at a very low level for a first round draft pick from a major D1 college program and has put up mediocre numbers.

Hulett's answer: His numbers haven't been terrible and SF knows how to develop pitching. I also know they don't read too much into first year numbers.

Hulett is certainly a knowledgeable reporter/analyst and I respect his opinion, else I would not have posed the question to him in the first place. I will concede that Stratton's numbers have not been terrible. I will also concede that the Giants probably do not read much into first year numbers. The part of his answer that interests me is the "SF knows how to develop pitching."

It struck me that this has become an almost stock answer that I see around the internet when a question about almost any Giants pitching prospect comes up. "Oh, don't you worry, everything will be alright. The Giants know how to develop pitching." Now, the Giants have had a great deal of success with "homegrown" pitching in the last 10 years or so, but is it really because the are better at developing pitchers or is it more that they are good at finding pitchers?

It kind of harks back to the old Nature vs Nurture debate regarding human behavior. Can the Giants really turn a proverbial sow's ear into a silk purse when it comes to pitching, or are they just good at finding silk purses? Let's break down the history of the Giants and their pitching over the last 10+ years to see if we can find some answers.

First, we will look at the pitchers who the Giants have successfully developed. For sake of brevity, I will use ERA's as a rough approximation of effectiveness with the stipulation that we all know it is not a perfect measure. I will also refer to the player's first FULL pro season as Pro Season #1.

Noah Lowry- Drafted out of college(Pepperdine) 2001 first round. Pro Season #1: High A, ERA= 2.15. Pro Season #2: AA ERA= 4.72, AAA ERA= 2.37, MLB ERA 0.00 in 6.1 IP. Pros Season #3 AAA ERA= 4.13. MLB ERA= 3.82. Lowry showed up in the majors with an average fastball and a devastating changeup that baffled MLB hitters. Whether hitters figured out the changeup or his injury issues started long before we became aware of them, he gradually became less effective and his career sadly ended prematurely due to injury.

Brad Hennessey- Drafted out of college(Youngstown St) 2001 first round. The start to Hennessey's pro career was delayed and interrupted by 2 surgeries for a tumor on his spine. Pro Season #1(2003 after missing all of 2002): Low A ERA- 4.20. Pro Season #2: AA ERA= 3.56, AAA ERA= 2.02, MLB ERA= 4.98. Hennessey went on to have modest success for several seasons in the majors. He showed up in 2008 mysteriously underweight and was out of baseball in 2 years.

Matt Cain- Drafted out of HS, 2002, first round. Pro Season #1 Low A ERA= 2.55. Pro Season #2 High A ERA= 1.86, AA ERA= 3.35. Pro Season #3: AAA ERA= 4.39, MLB ERA= 2.33. Pro Season #4 MLB ERA= 4.15. Cain's first pro season in Low A was extremely successful but cut short by a stress reaction in his elbow. He fast-tracked after that and has had a very successful MLB career.

Kevin Correia- Drafted out of College 2002, 4'th round(Cal Poly). Pro Season #1 AA ERA= 3.65, AAA ERA= 2.84, MLB ERA= 3.66. Correia did not sustain his initial success and bounced back and forth between the majors and minors until his 4'th pro season. He has enjoyed modest success in his MLB career but has earned a surprising $22 M as a result.

That is every "homegrown" Giants pitcher in the last 10+ years I can think of who could reasonably be considered successfully "developed" by the organization. As you can see, almost every one was placed and promoted aggressively and had early and sustained success. It could reasonably be inferred that these pitchers' success had more to do with innate ability than any "development" on the Giants part. In at least one case, Lincecum, we know that the minor league coaches were instructed by Dick Tidrow to leave his mechanics alone. In another case, Bumgarner, there is evidence that the Giants tried to change his mechanics with harmful results and he quickly went back to his old mechanics. Overall, it is an impressive track record of success with "homegrown" pitchers and we can at least say the Giants probably did nothing to hinder their progress and may have helped.

In our exuberance over the Giants success with "homegrown" pitchers, let us not forget that they have had their share of failures too. We won't go into the monumental collapse of Ainsworth, Foppert and Williams(AFW), which I do not fault the Giants for, as they were all drafted more than 12 years ago and their failure had more to do with innate injury proneness(A and F) and character issues(W).

David Aardsma- drafted in the first round out of college(Rice) 2003, Pro Season #1 AAA ERA= 3.09 MLB 6.75. The Giants tried to convert him to a SP in Pro Season #2 at AA, where he had a good ERA of 2.93, but was traded mid-season out of the organization. He ultimately had 2 successful seasons as a reliever with Seattle, but 6 years after being drafted. He may or may not have been harmed by being rushed to the majors by the Giants.

Roger Craig "Humm-Baby" Whitaker- Also drafted in 2003 out of HS late first round. His pro career never got untracked due to nagging injuries and lack of development of secondary pitches. He never pitched at the MLB level.

Tim Alderson- Drafted in the first round out of HS 2007 #22 overall. Pro Season #1 High A ERA= 2.79. Pro Season #2 High A ERA= 4.15, AA(Giants) ERA= 3.47, AA(Pirates)- ERA= 4.66. After Alderson was traded, he complained about the lack of instruction he had received from the Giants and had praise for the Pirates system. Of course, he has never made it to the majors and the Pirates have an atrocious history of failed pitching prospects, so what do you make of that? We do know that Alderson pitched exclusively out of the stretch in HS and the Giants had him winding up, so we know they did SOME work with him.

Dan Runzler- Runzler is a hard throwing LHP who seemed like he was destined to be a LH version of Brian Wilson, but has never been able to solve his command problems and appears to be nearing the end of his tenure in the Giants organization.

Zack Wheeler was a high draft pick(#5 overall) who has been discussed ad-nauseum. He was moving up the Giants ladder on schedule and continued that progression with the Mets. He has had a successful MLB debut.

Recent drafts have focused more on hitters in the first round and we have not had enough time elapse to judge the success or failure of prospects such as Stratton, Agosta and Kyle Crick.

So, what can we take away from all this history? 1. The Giants have indeed been successful, more than most organizations, at bringing "homegrown" pitchers to the majors. 2. While development may have played in important role, it appears that scouting may be the bigger factor at work here. We will never know if these same pitchers would have fared worse in another organization once they were drafted. 3. There are plenty of examples of pitchers who failed to develop in the organization. 4. It is probably not valid to dismiss concerns about a specific Giants pitching prospect by saying "the Giants know how to develop pitchers."

Nice game from Brownie. He has those every once in awhile. Surkamp's string of QS's broken even though his K and BB numbers actually look better than in any of the QS's. Hembree seems to be back on track after a 1 game hiccup. Looking forward to some MLB innings in September to gauge whether he will be part of the mix for next year or not.

Good to see Brian Ragira playing quite a bit of OF late in the season. Polonius is another name to add to the middle IF logjam in the lower minors.

Rookie AZL Season is complete. Giants had a bye in the first round of the playoffs. Christian Arroyo was named AZL MVP and led the league in OPS. Arroyo, Ryder Jones, C Fernando Pujadas and LHP Luis Ysla made the AZL All-League Team. Padres won their quarterfinal playoff game against the Angels and face the Giants in the semifinal game this evening.

DSL Season is finished. Giants eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

Friday, August 30, 2013

Angel Pagan scored the only run of the game while Big Time Timmy Jim pitched 6 scoreless frames and the bullpen finished it off in classic Giants fashion. Key Lines:

Angel Pagan- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .263. Pagan doubled to lead off the game, was sacrificed to 2B by Scutaro and came home on a SF by Brandon Belt. Bunting with no outs and a runner on 2B is a bit unorthodox, to say the least. I didn't see it. Perhaps Scutaro was trying for a hit? Still unorthodox! Maybe Bochy just felt like it was going to be a low scoring game or if the Giants could score that first run Timmy would pitch better with that lead. Hey! It all worked out in the end!

Tim Lincecum- 6 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K's, GO/AO= 10/1. ERA= 4.38. Timmy didn't have the strikeout pitch going except when he needed it with the bases loaded and 1 out in the 6'th inning. He did have the groundball thing going, though. Pablo made a terrific play on one groundball to end that 6'th inning.

Tobin has a 1.69 ERA over his last 10 appearances covering 10.2 IP with 8 K's and 2 BB's. This was the 4'th QS in a row for Fleet and his best start from a K/BB standpoint since returning to the Fresno rotation.

This might be Cricky's most dominant game yet and gotta be diggin' the 0 BB's! Mac keeps his drive for .300 alive while taking 2 for the team. The 2 HBP's came after his first inning HR so I wonder if the Rawhide pitchers thought maybe he was stylin' a bit too much on the dinger? The 25 HR's tie him the Tim Flaherty(I don't remember him, 1999?) for 3'rd on the alltime SJ Giants single season HR list. Harris' 40 doubles leads the league. He is one of 4 SJ Giants in history to hit 40. Oh, and Matt Duffy!!

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Before we get started, I'd like to address some discussion from the previous Down on the Farm regarding AFL rules. I don't claim to be an expert, but I've followed the AFL closely for a long time now. I can remember when Jerome Williams and Todd Linden went! Anyway, the league is generally limited to AAA and AA players. Teams are allowed 1 exception which may have recently been expanded to 2. They can also apply for additional exceptions such as the Giants did a couple of years ago for Dan Runzler because he had too many MLB innings to qualify under normal rules. There has also been a no-repeat rule in the past. Not sure if that one is still in place. In general, teams are not enthusiastic about sending pitchers so you tend to see a lot of reliever types and starters who have missed some time and have not logged a normal innings workload. As a result, and also because of the location, it tends to be an extreme hitter-friendly league. Although players are sometimes given specific things to work on, it is more of a showcase league to see how a team's top prospects compete with other top prospects. Sample sizes are so small that is of dubious value though.

Hope that helps.

Check out Shankbones excellent blog You Gotta Like These Kids for a rundown on this year's Giants AFL assignees.

Delfino is finishing the season strong hitting .333/.341/.571 over his last 10 games, and .304/.339/.500 for the month of August. He really had just one bad month, May, when he hit .202. He doesn't walk a ton, but he also keep his K rate down to under 15%. Flores line is not quite as exciting as some we've seen from him, but it's a QS and he continues to not walk anybody.

I'm pretty excited about my man Tyler Horan's season line of .303/.370/.448. He's hitting .326/.396/.512 over his last 10 games and .329/.387/.518 over 20 games in the month of August. There as concern about him controlling the strike zone in the pros, but he has 16 BB's against 32 K's in 165 AB's with S-K.

Do you think Angel V is excited about his AFL assignment? Hey! Isn't he on the 40 man roster? Do you think he'll get a Sept callup? I'd love to see him get a handful of MLB AB's before he goes to the AFL.

Joey Rapp is a guy who has gotten progressively stronger over the course of the season. He is hitting .324/.390/.541 over his last 10 games, .323/.406/.484 in 26 games in the month of August and .287/.356/.421 in 56 games post All-Star.

Fargas has quietly had a successful pro debut. This was just his second start since 8/17, though. Arroyo keeps rolling. Very nice finish to the season for Keury Mella! 7 shutout innings with 8 K's and 1 BB over his last 2 appearances.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

The Giants staked Yusmeiro Petit to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning on HR's by Hunter Pence and Pablo Sandoval. Petit responded with a gritty Quality Start and the Giants went on to win. Key Lines:

Marco Scutaro- 2 for 4, SF. BA= .300. Scutaro was back in his old 2-hole and responded with a typical Scutaro game.

Brandon Belt- 4 for 5,. BA= .279. Belt peppered the right side of the infield with sharp grounders that got past infielders for a 4-hit game. Tonight he had the toe of his back foot right up against the inside line of the batter's box. Shows how much I know about hitting, huh?

Hunter Pence- 1 for 5, HR(16). BA= .278. If I understood the TV graphics right, Pence's HR was the longest in MLB this year. It hit up against the brick wall behind the arcade behind the LF bleachers, a truly mammoth shot!

Pablo Sandoval- 3 for 4, 2B, HR(10). BA= .272. Pablo is making great defensive plays and hitting the ball with more authority. Let's hope his newfound healthy diet cooked by his bro Luis is a permanent change in lifestyle.

Hector Sanchez- 2 for 4. BA= .250. The Hector is now hitting .333 over his last 10 games, 7 for 21.

Yusmeiro Petit- 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 3.18. Solid performance by Petit who pitched his way out of trouble a couple of times. This is his second very solid appearance this season for the Giants. He deserves another start to see if he can keep it going. I was a bit disappointed he got sent out after his terrific relief appearance vs Cincy on July 23, but I understand the Giants needed the arms and could not afford to rest him after a 5 inning stint. I just have this feeling that Petit has been quietly honing his game down in Fresno for the past 2 years and might be finally ready to pitch in the major leagues. I think we might have another Vogelsong story in the making here, but like Vogey in 2011, he's going to have to prove it every single game for awhile.

Madison Bumgarner goes for the series win tomorrow facing Jhoulys Chacin who is probably the Rockies best pitcher this year.

Pagan seems ready. He's apparently not coming back until rosters expand this weekend. I am impressed with Chris Dominguez consistency this season and he's ending it with a flourish. Has he finally figured it out at the plate? This was a bullpen game with no pitcher throwing more than 3 innings. Castillo's stint was the most impressive.

AA Reading Phightin' Phils came from behind to edge out the Richmond Flying Squirrels in 10 innings:

Westcott has been steady Eddy on the mound but does not appear to have the stuff to make it at higher levels. He has had several good games at the plate. I wonder if he has thought about trying to play a position?

Monday, August 26, 2013

Any fears that the Giants might go on a late season win streak and blow their chance at a top 10 draft pick were quieted by they stinker they put up tonight. No fight in this one! Key Lines:

Francisco Peguero- 1 for 4. BA= .190. 7 Giants had 1 hit each in this one, but Frankie's hit led to their only run scored ahead of Arias' double.

Joaquin Arias- 1 for 1, 2B. BA= .276. He's not going to unseat Crawford, but I'd still like to see what Arias could do in a full season of AB's from the SS position, or any position, for that matter, well, except maybe first base!

Barry Zito- 4 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 1 K'. ERA= 5.81. OK, now that we are past the potential horrors of Coors Field, can we please see no more of Barry Zito starting? Kickham, Surkamp, Moscoso, Rosario. I don't really care, just take a look at someone else!

Guillermo Moscoso- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 4.87. Moscoso has run hot and cold, but I'd rather see what he can do with 3-4 starts than what Zito is going to do, which we pretty much know even if it mattered.

Giants have some sorting out to do at 2B in the lower minors. Kurrasch is on fire! For all of Mizenko's struggles, his ERA is still under 3. Pitching beat hitting in this series against the Rangers's farm club.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Ryan Vogelsong overcame a very tight strike zone to pitch one of he patented pitching clinics to shut down the Pirates while nursing a 1-0 lead into the 8'th inning when the Giants scored 3 runs to put the game away. Key Lines:

Gregor Blanco- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .353. With another chance to lead off after his disastrous game Friday night, Blanco got no base twice in this one scoring once.

Buster Posey- 2 for 3, BB. BA= .307. Buster has been on base 6 times in the last 2 games. He also made a couple of excellent defensive plays, hosing Andrew Lambo on a CS, then pouncing on a sac bunt by Burnett, firing to 2B to get the lead runner with Crawford completing the DP throw to first.

Pablo Sandoval- 2 for 4, 3B. BA= .270. Pablo also made a couple of sparkling defensive plays and is generally moving much better with the loss of poundage. The triple was a ball that traveled about 418 feet to the apex of Triples Alley. I guess that's where it got its name!

Ryan Vogelsong- 8 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 5.58. The ump had a ridiculously narrow strike zone for both pitchers, but Vogey used everything in his arsenal to work his way through it. He received a standing O as he came off the field in the 8'th inning bringing back a lot of memories. Anybody still think fatigue was not a major factor in his early season struggles?

AJ Burnett(Pirates)- 7.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 3.18. Burnett pitched much better than the line would indicate. He battled the same strike zone as Vogey. Giants fans who think Bochy is a bad manager should get a load of Clint Hurdle. How no Earth do you let your #1 or #2 pitcher run his pitch count up to 116 when you are trailing in the game? I mean, you would have thought that Burnett was working on a no-no or something! Very bad managing there!

Giants now travel to Colorado where Barry Zito gets one more start, for reasons that are very unclear, facing Juan Nicasio. Maybe the Giants really are trying for a higher draft pick and figure Zito is the guy who is going to get them there? If that's the strategy, it's A-OK with me!

McVay has a 2.30 ERA over his last 10 appearances covering 15.2 IP. Alberto Robles continues to make a case for starting gig at a higher level next year. The Giants organization seems to have a bit surplus of 2B.

It looks to me like this was the last game of the regular season for the DSL. The Dominican Dandies won their division by 8.5 games. I don't read Spanish very well, but I think the Giants face the Red Sox in a semi-final playoff game today.

The BABIP gods finally smiled on the Giants in the first inning as they parlayed a seemingly endless string of seeing-eye grounders and infield dribblers into a 4-0 lead that stood up. Key Lines:

Buster Posey- 3 for 5. BA= .305. No dingers, but Buster is hitting .364 over his last 10 games.

Hector Sanchez- 1 for 2, BB, HBP. BA= .234. The Hector continues to be effective at the plate. The HBP was a two-seam scud that took one skip in the dirt and nailed his left ankle. It looked painful!

Gregor Blanco- 2 for 4. BA= .252. Blanco recovers from his 3 K game.

Tim Lincecum- 5.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 8 K's. ERA= 4.55. Timmy had 4 strong innings before giving up a long HR in the 5'th to Gary Sanchez, the first of his career. He came out of he game after a 1-out walk to McCutchen followed by a Pedro Alvarez double in the 6'th.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

If you are interested in getting an early look at some of the HS players who will be eligible to be drafted in the 2014 draft, make sure to catch the Under Armour All-American Game at Wrigley Field. TV is on the MLB Network at 11:30 AM PDT today.

Some of the top rated players who the Giants may have a chance to draft include RHP Tyler Kolek, SS Jacob Gatewood, C/RHP Alex Jackson and more.

BA is raving about Mike Cameron's son, Daz, but he is in the class of 2015.

AAA Las Vegas 51's finally won a see-saw game 9-8 in the bottom of the 10'th inning over the Fresno Grizzlies:

Angel Pagan(CF)- 1 for 3, SF, HBP. BA= .333.

Gary Brown(RF-CF)- 0 for 4, 2 BB. BA= .235.

Johnny Monell(1B)- 2 for 6, 2B. BA= .277.

Chris Dominguez(3B)- 3 for 4, BB, HBP, SB(4). BA= .294.

Kensuke Tanaka(LF)- 3 for 5, HR(1), BB. BA= .332.

Heath Hembree(RHP)- 1.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 4.22.

Brown has a BB% less than 6 with a .290 OBP on the season, so the BB's are welcome. I halfway expect to read that Hembree is going on the DL after a game like this. Big step back!

AA Altoona Curve vs Richmond Flying Squirrels rained out.

High A San Jose Giants crushed the Bakersfield Blaze 10-2:

Myles Schroder(3B)- 3 for 6, 2 2B, SB(10). BA= .276.

Mac Williamson(RF)- 2 for 5, HR(23). BA= .284.

Trevor Brown(2B)- 2 for 4, BB. BA= .100.

Bobby Haney(SS)- 2 for 4, HR(4), BB. BA= .254.

Kyle Crick(RHP)- 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 1.75.

Chris Marlowe(RHP)- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 4.18.

Schroder is a guy I have pegged as a deep sleeper. He's old and doesn't have great ratios, but he looks bigger than the 5'11", 180 he's listed at and has athletic actions. I like his athleticism and that he can play multiple positions. Mac is now tied with Roger Kieschnick and Mike Glendenning(remember him?) for 4'th on the all-time SJ Giants list of season HR's.

Low A Augusta Greenjackets outslugged the Hickory Crawdads 10-9:

Alberto Robles(2B-SS)- 4 for 4, 2 2B, SF. BA= .327.

Mitch Delfino(3B)- 2 for 5, HR(11). BA= .256.

Joey Rapp(1B)- 2 for 5, HR(6). BA= .258.

Chuckie Jones(RF)- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .236.

Ben Turner(C)- 3 for 5. BA= .253.

Rando Moreno(2B)- 2 for 2. BA= .353.

Ian Gardeck(RHP)- 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 3.00.

Joey Gallo(3B, Crawdads)- 2 for 4, 3B, BB. BA= .237 with 31 HR's.

Lewis Brinson(CF, Crawdads)- 1 for 4, 2B. BA= .234 with 20 HR's.

Nick Williams(3B, Crawdads)- 2 for 5. BA= .300 with 17 HR's.

Robles is making a case for a starting gig at a higher level next year. Chuckie Jones stays hot. Gallo, Brinson and Nick Williams were all highly touted draft picks by the Rangers. They are obviously crushing dingers right and left, but also striking out at frightful rates. Gallo and Brinson have K%'s of almost 40 and Williams is close to 30%. Williams seems to be the most complete hitter of the 3. I seem to remember that he dropped in the draft due to makeup concerns.

Short Season Boise Hawks beat the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes 8-1:

Tyler Hollick(CF)- 3 for 5. BA= .267.

Ty Ross(C)- 1 for 2, 2B, BB. BA= .258.

Chase Johnson(RHP)- 3 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 1 K. ERA= 3.29.

Johnson has given up 9 ER in 7 IP over his last 2 starts.

Rookie AZL Giants defeated the Rangers 7-4:

Will Callaway(2B)- 1 for 4, HR(1), BB. BA= .302.

Christian Arroyo(SS)- 2 for 4, 3B. BA= .314.

Ryder Jones(DH)- 1 for 2, BB, HBP. BA= .321.

Donald Snelton(LHP)- 5 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 1.62.

Jones has cooled off in the second half hitting .260 over his last 18 games while Arroyo just keeps on raking.

An old Giants nemesis came back to haunt them as Clint Barmes dug out a very good back-foot slider from Madison Bumgarner in the top of the 7'th inning and hit a 2-iron shot down the LF line that barely cleared the wall for a 3 run HR and erased the Giants 1-0 lead to finis the scoring in this game. Key Lines:

Madison Bumgarner- 8 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 2.84. 3 of the 7 hits came in the pivotal 7'th inning. Ironically, while the 4 BB's are the worse part of the line, none of them figured in the scoring. The dinger by Barnes was not off a "mistake" pitch. Bummy threw a very good back-foot slider that appeared to be well placed. Whether Barmes was looking for it or whether he just got lucky, we'll probably never know for sure. He went down and dug it out and hit a golf shot that never got very far off the ground and just barely cleared the LF wall. Probably wouldn't have mattered as the two singles to open the inning were sacrificed to 2'nd and 3'rd so they both would have scored even if the ball had stayed in the park.

Charlie Morton(RHP)- 7.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K's, GO/AO= 11/2. ERA= 3.42. It can be difficult to tell the difference between good pitching and bad hitting. I suspect this game was a bit of both for Giants hitters, but Morton's stuff looked very good. He is now 2 full years removed from TJ surgery and appears to be fully recovered. He's also the dude who decided to scrap his entire delivery and rebuild it as a carbon copy of Doc Halliday's. Early on in this game, he featured a 93 MPH FB that he was able to command on the corners, a 91 MPH cutter that came in like a FB but had a late downward hook that dived just under bats and a sharp, late-breaking slider that he could throw at the back foot of LH batters or down and away to RH batters. When I saw him K Blanco with the slider for his first out of the game, I said "uh-oh! This could be a shutout."

This Loss puts the Giants in 6'th place in the race for the #1 overall draft pick in 2014.

Tim Lincecum faces Francisco Liriano today. If that does not go well, I'm sure we will have some Giants fans dredging up a certain trade that took place almost 10 years and 2 WS Championships ago and calling for Sabes to be fired.

Herrera has had a very steady season. I wonder if the Giants are as curious as we are to see what he might do at higher levels? Duvall is hitting .344/.432/.531 over his last 10 games and .375/.444/.661 for the month of August(16 games) after hitting just .225 in June and .188 in July.

Mac is hitting .350/.422/625 over his last 10 games. Schroder is 9 for 16 over his last 4 games with 2 triples and a dinger. Don't forget about Ty Blach when counting Giants pitching prospects who have had great seasons.

Matt Cain had to leave the game in the 4'th inning with the score 3-3 after taking a comeback line drive off his right forearm. The bullpen then gave up a 7 spot in the 5'th inning to put the game out of reach. Key Lines:

Marco Scutaro- 1 for 2, BB. BA= .298. When he has felt good, Scutaro has continued to be a hit machine at the top of the lineup.

Brett Pill- 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .250. Pill gets the start in LF against the LHP and makes the most of the opportunity. He hit another ball hard but pulled it just foul in the LF corner.

Gregor Blanco- 1 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .252. Blanco is hitting .290 over his last 10 games with 5 BB, and is 7 for 19 with 3 BB's over his last 5.

Brandon Crawford- 1 for 1, 2B. BA= .272. What a terrific season Crawford is having! One of the few bright spots on the team. Arias got the start at SS against the LHP as Crawford needed a rest anyway. Arias went 0 for 5.

Matt Cain- 3.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 4.43. Cain got roughed up a bit in his first 2 innings but looked like he was settling in when he took a liner off his right forearm. He left the game immediately. He may miss his next start due to the location of the bruise.

Guillermo Moscoso- 0.2 IP, 0 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 5.40. Moscoso finished the 4'th inning with 2 K's, but then loaded the bases to start the 5'th on a HBP and 2 walks. Bochy did not look pleased as he came out to get him. His replacement, Mijares, promptly gave up a long ground rule double to Pedro Alvarez and the route was one.

The Giants roster merry-go-round continued to turn as Andres Torres went on the DL with a sore achilles tendon and Mike Kickham was sent back to Fresno after his 4 inning outing against the BoSox. Nick Noonan and Frankie Pegs got the callups.

Madison Bumgarner faces Charlie Morton on Orange Friday.

After this loss, the Giants stand 7'th in the race for the #1 overall draft pick in the 2014 draft.

In case you are wondering, Escobar was pulled due to pitch limit rules. He walked the first 3 batters he faced, one on 11 pitches and threw 34 in all. Sounds like a case of being a little off at the beginning of the game and not being able to settle it down in time. Parker's dingers was a walkoff blast. His 16 HR's are tied with Roger K and Javy Herrera for the Richmond Franchise record. Nice bullpen work buy Quirarte, Osich and even Cody Hall despite the unearned run he gave up.

High A San Jose Giants outslugged the Stockton Ports 16-11 in 10 innings:

Myles Schroder is hitting .282 post All-Star Break and .318 in August so far. Blackburn maybe didn't have his best command as he uncharacteristically walked 3 and gave up 3 dingers. Was he hanging the curveball? Derek Law was lights out once again.

Low A Augusta Greenjackets did not waste an epic performance by Kendry Flores outlasting the Lexington Legends 2-1:

Kendry Flores(RHP)- 8 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 15 K's!!. ERA= 2.65.

OK, Bucardo pitched OK too as did Mason McVay, but Flores might have the line of the season here. What a stupendous performance! Second most K's in all the minors this year(Jesse Biddle struck out 16 early in the season). It's not like this is out of the blue either. Flores leads the Sally League in IP(135.2) and is 4'th in K's(134) while giving up 17, that's right, just 17 BB's ALL SEASON! If that does not impress you, take a look at his line for his last 10 starts: 5-2, 2.43, 66.2 IP, 76 K's and 4, yes you read that right....4 BB's!!!! My head exploded when I saw that! If he is not #1 on BA's hot sheet this week, then I want to see the line of who is! This kid is the sabermetrician's dream. Why aren't the Fangraphs boys shouting his name from the rooftops? Gotta think he has a chance for BA's top 100 after this season's performance. Now, one problem is that this is his 5'th pro season, so the Giants have to add him to the 40 man rotation to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Not sure how many more prospects are in the same boat, but they could be looking at a roster crunch this offseason.

Giants seem like they are going to have to weed out some of their 2B surplus one of these days. Fuentes started the season very strong then apparently got injured.

DSL Giants pounded the Twins 10-2:

Gustavo Cabrera(CF)- 2 for 4, 3B, HR(2), SB(20). BA= .242.

Gustavo continues his strong finish to the DSL season. Gotta be excited about that! There was a completion of a previous DSL game too. Same starting pitcher, Olbis Parra. I had trouble figuring out when different events happened in that game. Looks like Gustavo may have entered the game when it started yesterday. He went 1 for 1 with a walk and a steal of home. His SB in the game listed above was of home too. Love what we're seeing from Gustavo here at the end of the season!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The Giants played poorly in every facet of the game today and it showed in the final score. You play like that against a team like the Red Sox and they won't just beat you, they will destroy you! Key Lines:

Joaquin Arias- 2 for 3, HR(1). BA= .288. I continue to be intrigued by the possibilities that lie inside Joaquin Arias. He was once a highly prized prospect and still has obvious superior athleticism. I find myself wondering what he could do if he had a regular gig and stayed healthy.

Barry Zito- 3.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 5.63. I have a friend at work who is a Red Sox fan(he actually is from Boston). I told him the Red Sox might have ended Barry Zito's career today and it wasn't meant to be a joke. With Moscoso and Kickham already on the active roster and with rosters expanding in 10 days, I cannot think of any reason why Zito should start another game this season. I also cannot think of any reason why the Giants should spend an extra $11 M to keep him around next year. Yes, the $7 M buyout will be painful, but not nearly as painful as spending another $11 M to see performances like this. Maybe some other team would pick him up, although I cannot think of any team he would help right now, but I am ready to pronounce his Giants career done.

Mike Kickham- 4 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 10.72. As Alex P said, Kickham didn't make much of case to replace Zito in the rotation with this effort. He's still relatively young and might need another year of seasoning before he is ready for the majors.

The Pittsburgh Pirates now come in for a 4 gamer with Matt Cain pitching the opener facing lefty Jeff Locke.

I guess if Pagan's hammy held up while he ran out a triple, then he's about good to go. Very tough to not be irrationally exuberant about Arroyo. Massoni is 21 years old and a college draftee so he's bit advanced for this level. He did come out of a smaller D1 program. All you can ask of a player is for him to do well in whatever circumstances he finds himself in. We'll see where he is assigned next year and how he performs. I really liked his college numbers. I am cautiously encouraged by Dylan Brooks' performance in his first pro experience.

DSL Game was suspended in the 5'th inning with the Giants leading 3-2:

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Ryan Vogelsong pitched his heart out and the Giants offense was finally able to push across some runs late in the game to squeak out a win. Key Lines:

Brandon Belt- 3 for 4, 2B, 3B. BA= .283. Terrific game for Belt who was scalding the ball to all 3 parts of the field. He definitely led the way for the offense tonight!

Roger Kieschnick- 3 for 4. BA= .283. I am A-OK with Roger K hitting singles. I would much rather have him hitting singles and keeping his BA up than swinging for the fences with a BA of .100 which would get him sent out. The power will come if he can gain a foothold in the majors.

Ryan Vogelsong- 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 6.29. It looked like Vogey was going to get BABIP'd right out of the game in the first inning as grounder after grounder was exactly in the wrong place to load the bases. He pitched his way out of it with just 1 run in damage and hung tough from there. This was a good start towards a pickup of his option this offseason.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a chronic impingement of the median nerve in the wrist that can lead to loss of sensation and weakness of the intrinsic muscles of the hand. It can sometimes be alleviated with anti-inflammatories and splints, but often requires a minor surgical procedure.

The Giants also DFA'd Jeff Francoeur so they could call up both Mike Kickham and Jean Machi from Fresno. Francoeur was a nice flyer to take but showed no progress in breaking out of his slump that is now several seasons old. Time to move on. Good call by the Giants. I would think this move mostly benefits Roger K who has certainly earned a longer look.

Petit now has 6 fairly dominant starts out of his last 7 with 1 start on 8/9 where he gave up 3 runs in 5 IP. In that 7 game span, he has an ERA of 2.57 with 43 K's against just 2 BB's in 42 IP. His overall line for the season has 91 K's against 13 BB's in 87.2 IP. IN his single MLB appearance he went 5.1 IP with 2 R and 7 K's with 0 BB's. I saw him on TV during that appearance and I was very impressed with his stuff. Petit could help a MLB club right now and help them a lot! He's had a lot of chances, so I can understand why MLB clubs might be reluctant to go there again, but hey, we Giants fans know stranger things have happened!

Gardeck has an ERA of 1.88 in 14.1 IP over his last 10 appearances with 19 K's and 9 BB's. Still a bit of a wild hair there but manageable. I'm looking forward to some of these flamethrowing relievers graduating to SJ next year.

Low A Game 2 Augusta Greenjackets shut out the Savannah Sand Gnats 4-0:

Kurrasch was the Giants 8'th round draft pick out of Penn St in 2012. He has been a mixed bag so far, but seems to have found a strikeout pitch that hasn't been there before. He has 19 in 17 IP for Augusta since being moved there from S-K. And yes ogc, he is a bit old for the level. Sigh! Johnson is another flamethrower I am looking forward to seeing. He has not allowed an ER in his last 10 appearances covering 14.1 IP. He has an ERA of 1.5 in 15 appearances post All-Star Break.

Short Season Vancouver Canadians topped the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes 8-4:

Jeremy Sy is old(23) but I found out from Shankbone's blog that his pro career was delayed by TJ surgery. He is putting up some numbers that rival Matt Duffy's here: .289/.388/.503 with 8 HR's and 13 SB, 29 K's, 23 BB's. Don't know if he can play SS at higher levels, but another sleeper to keep an eye on.

Morel has pitched out of the bullpen prior to this game where he has recorded 6 Saves. He's 19 yo but I'll pay attention to any dominant start like this one. He has nice size at 6'2", 190 lbs. I love Gomez' size, but he has unimpressive K/BB rates.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Timmy threw a lot of hanging split-changeups in this one and the Giants had no chance after he gave up a 3 spot in the second inning as the offense never got untracked against Jon Lester who took a shutout into the 9'th inning. Key Lines:

Andres Torres- 3 for 4. BA= .250. Not sure there is any point to this line. Torres had just 2 hits in 14 AB over his previous 9 games.

Buster Posey- 2 for 4. BA= .305. Is it just me or has Buster lost some weight? If he has, I'm guessing that is not a good thing.

Tim Lincecum- 5 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 4.53. There was some funky stuff going on in the second inning for sure. Timmy fell off the mound while delivering a pitch and was called for a balk. Buster's glove hit Jacoby Ellsbury's bat for a catcher interference call. Let's face it, though. Timmy did not pitch well! His command of the fastball was again in and out while he hung changeup after changeup. That is going to bite you sooner or later. He probably did very well to limit the damage to 5 runs in 5 IP. Still time left to evaluate, but if the season ended today, I'm not at all sure I give Timmy a qualifying offer.

Guillermo Moscoso- 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 4.08. Moscoso showed what you can do when you can put your fastball on the corners of the plate and can back it up with a secondary pitch or two. Very nice effort here! Moscoso has now allowed just 3 runs in his last 10.1 IP spanning 5 appearances with 14 K's and 6 BB's.

The loss moved the Giants up to 9'th place in the race for the #1 overall draft pick. They are tied with the Angels and Phillies but those teams have a tie-breaker advantage.

Chris Dominguez seems to have transformed himself from one of the streakiest hitters in professional baseball to one of the most consistent. Here are his monthly BA's: April .276, May .269, June .313, July .307, August .317. He's hitting .351 over his last 10 games, though. Hembree has picked his game up a notch. His ERA is 0.96 over his last 10 appearances with 8 K's and just 1 BB in 9.1 IP.

Giants hitters were not able to overcome a subpar performance from the pitchers and settled for a split of their 6 game road trip. Key Lines:

Gregor Blanco- 3 for 5. BA= .254. Blanco seems to be out of his slump. .290 over his last 10 games with an additional 5 BB's. 6 for his last 13

Brandon Crawford- 2 for 4, HR(8), BB. BA= .274. Crawford's season just keeps getting better. He came into this game with a fWAR of 2.4 which only got better.

Brandon Belt- 0 for 5, 2 K's. BA= .274. So much for the perfect 3 hole hitter thing. Belt was the black hole in the lineup today as 6 of the top 7 batters reached base twice and 4 of them reached base 3 times. 18 baserunners with 2 dingers and 3 doubles should score more than 5 runs. If you want to know why they didn't, you will quickly find Belt's line in the boxscore.

Hunter Pence- 2 for 5, HR(15). BA= .282. The Rev is hitting .357 over his last 10 games, .348 since the All-Star Break. He is on pace to finish at or near his career averages.

Pablo Sandoval- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .268. Sandoval is now up to .343 over his last 10 games after going 0 for 9 for the first 3 of those. He has an additional 7 BB's over his last 10 games.

Hector Sanchez- 2 for 3, 2B, 2 BB. BA= .246. The Hector! Since the rest of the season should be for evaluation, I would be in favor of resting Buster more as well as playing him at 1B more and getting The Hector more work behind the plate. Sanchez also needs to move in with Pablo and double Luis Sandoval's salary as a personal chef.

Roger Kieschnick- 1 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .245. Roger K is hitting just .143 over his last 10, but is certainly not swinging wildly. He has 6 BB's in his last 4 games with just 1 K. Giants need to keep running him out there and see where this leads.

Adrianza continues his remarkable hot streak. He's obviously not going to hit .330 in the majors, but he has a K/BB of 1 with Fresno and has always had strong peripheral stats. I think he's been underrated as a hitter. It will be interesting to see what becomes of him. I think he is out of options next spring and Crawford certainly looks entrenched at SS right now. I guess that's a good problem to have.

AA Richmond Flying Squirrels scored single runs in the 8'th and 9'th innings to take a 2-1 lead, but the Bowie Baysox came back with 2 in the bottom of the 9'th for the walkoff win:

Either the Giants have decided to stretch out Valdez and Bowlin and try them as starters or this was a bullpen game and there is a SP opening in Richmond. I have always been intrigued by the idea of Valdez as a starter.

I find myself becoming irrationally exuberant about Christian Arroyo. The hit tool seems to be for realz. Ryder Jones hasn't been too shabby either, although his power seems to have dropped off a bit. Arroyo has 21 XBH's on the season to Jones 10.

Gustavo is hitting .306 over his last 10 games and .293 in 22 games post All-Star break. I'm a little irrationally exuberant about him too! Javier is hitting .271 in 21 games post All-Star break. Angomas has done some interesting things and Medrano was looking good before apparently getting hurt. This DSL squad has some intriguing talent.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

The Giants offense turned 5 hits into 6 runs with the help of 8 BB's issued by Marlins' pitching. Once again, they needed those runs to score another win on what is turning out to be a very nice road trip for them. Key Lines:

Brandon Belt- 0 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .278. One thing about Belt, and I think this is where Bochy may deserve some criticism, is that his walks and resulting OBP are more productive in the top 3'rd of the lineup than the bottom. The 3 hole is almost tailor made for him.

Pablo Sandoval- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .266. Pablo is now 10 for his last 21 AB's. He contributed to both Giants rallies in this one.

Gregor Blanco- 2 for 4, 3B. BA= .249. Nice game for Blanco with the only XBH and 2 of the RBI's.

Friday, August 16, 2013

The Giants unleashed a relentless offensive attack which turned out to be almost not enough in a hitfest: Key Lines:

Marco Scutaro- 3 for 5. BA= .306. Scutaro has not drawn a walk since taking over the leadoff spot, but after an 0 for 9 in his first two games he is hitting .289 and has a 5 game hit streak in which he is 8 for 22.

Brandon Crawford- 2 for 6. BA= .275. Love Crawford in the 2-hole. He's a tough out, can pull the ball into the hole, gets on base.

Brandon Belt- 4 for 6, 2B, 3B. BA= .279. Belt is on fire!

Hunter Pence- 3 for 6, 2 2B, 3B. BA= .283. Still no dingers from The Rev, but we'll take games like this.

Pablo Sandoval- 4 for 4, 2B, 2 BB. BA= .266. After being ice cold and hitting a nadir of .256 on his BA, Pablo now is 9 for his last 18 over 5 games with 4 BB's. Alex P reports he has lost 20 lbs since the All-Star break. I still think the best strategy for the Giants is to keep him and hope he has a great walk-year.

Hector Sanchez- 1 for 6, HR(2). BA= .222. Bochy called this one. Prior to the game, he indicated that Buster Posey might get 2 games off this series. He joked, "It's just a matter of if Hector hits another 3-run homer or not." I guess Buster will be on the bench on Sunday! Those that say The Hector has no power are failing to see the potential. He says he specifically worked on pitch selection when he was in Fresno and maybe it's paying off. I saw him hit 2 blasts, one from each side of the plate in spring training 2012. If he is able to force pitchers to throw his pitch a little more often, there is a power hitter in there!

Chad Gaudin- 4 IP, 11 H, 8 R, 4 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 3.08. Terrible game for Gaudin. It says something about how well he's been pitching that his ERA is still barely above 3 after this.

4'th consecutive game for Surkamp in which he goes 7 IP and allows 1 ER. He has 21 K's against 5 BB's in 28 IP in that span. Curious that Dominguez has moved to 1B the last 2 games with Jurica playing 3B.

AA Richmond Flying Squirrels scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 8'th inning for a come-from-behind 9-6 win over the Akron Aeros:

I know it's the PCL and all, but I am impressed that Dominguez has maintained that BA all season. It does seem he has sacrificed some power to do it, but he wasn't hitting dingers before just because of lack of contact. Anybody else like to see Petit get added back on the 40 man and get a couple of starts in September?

The Giants rallied late to make it close, but in the end continued their drive for the #4 overall draft pick. Key Lines:

Brandon Belt- 2 for 5, HR(14). BA= .273. One has to wonder what this season might be like if Belt had made the requested adjustments in spring training or last offseason.

Pablo Sandoval- 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .261. Maybe Sandoval got the message that he isn't too popular or considered too valuable right now?

Hunter Pence- 2 for 4, SB(18). BA= .282. Pence is contributing, but I think he still has only 1 HR since July 1. Giants need more power than that from him.

Tim Lincecum- 6 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 3 K's, GO/AO= 9/3. ERA= 4.38. Timmy gave up a 5 spot in the 4'th inning and just 1 other run in the other 5 innings he pitched. Pretty much the story of his last 2 seasons.

This game was pretty much another microcosm of the season. Pitchers pitching well except for 1 bad inning. When the offense scores 5 runs, the pitchers give up 6. When the pitchers give up 2 runs the offense scores 1.

If the season ended today, the Giants would have the #6 overall draft pick.

About Me

I grew up in Northern California near the Napa Valley. I got interested in baseball and the Giants by listening to Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons broadcast Giants games on KSFO. My early heros were Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal and a guy you don't always think of, Jim Ray Hart. When I got older and was in school and early career, I didn't have time to follow as closely, but I tried to look up their boxscores each day and catch an occasional game on TV. One habit I got into at an early age was looking up the stats of their minor league players in The Sporting News. That became more difficult as TSN moved away from comprehensive baseball coverage. Now, of course, technology and affluence has changed all that. The internet is teaming with farm system/minor league information as well as college and high school baseball. Satellite TV enables me to get most of the Giants games on TV. I'm married with 2 wonderful daughters, who like to watch games with me.